Vancouver plans downtown parking garage sale that draws criticism

The City of Vancouver is looking to cut its losses by selling a money-losing downtown parking garage it helped finance 21 years ago as an economic development project.

The proposal has drawn some flak because of the low selling price. The buyers have offered $1.1 million for the Main Place Parking Garage at 1111 Main St. Its assessed value is $3.1 million.

The offer is from Realvest Corp., representing Main Place Partners of Vancouver, which owns the building next to the garage and already controls most of the garage through leases.

The offer raised objections from Todd Boulanger, a former city senior transportation planner (an earlier version of this story incorrectly described Boulanger's position with the city). He told the city council on Dec. 17 that it should be asking more for the property.

The city's independent appraiser came up with the sale price using an income-based estimate of value instead of the replacement cost used by the assessor.

Boulanger said the 207 parking spaces are worth more than the city is planning to charge Main Place Partners, which uses 37 spaces for free and leases 131 more from the city. The rest are mostly leased to downtown firms, with 10 spaces open for the general public.

Boulanger said downtown condominium buyers are paying $20,000 to $25,000 for parking spaces, and the $1.1 million offer puts the price of each space at $5,300.

City officials said that the difference in price reflects the commercial use of the downtown spaces in contrast with the purchase price of condo property. The commercial spaces are worth less, they said.

"You don't buy property on the assessed value," said Realvest spokesman Richard Gress. "The real value is what someone is willing to pay for it."

The council declared the parking garage as surplus property because it has been operating at a loss while the construction cost is being paid off. It lost $128,427 in 2011, $63,296 this year and $332,930 in 2006, City Manager Eric Holmes said in a report.

The city's debt on the garage should be paid in 2017, said Lloyd Tyler, the city's chief financial officer. Then, in 2018, the garage would earn $80,000 a year. But, between now and 2018, the garage would lose $425,000, he said.

In order for the city to pay off its debt at the current rate, it could hope to break even on the garage sometime between 2025 and 2030, he said.

As a result, and considering the city's current budget needs, Tyler and Tim Haldeman, the city's general services director, said it made sense to sell for $1.1 million. Then the $800,000 remaining on the garage purchase could be paid, leaving $300,000 for the general fund, Tyler said.

Vancouver resident Steve Herman told the council the city should keep the garage and count it as an asset after 2018.

"You should stick it out and give us the little bit of benefit we can get out of it," he said. "It's an asset for us eventually."

The council postponed until at least Jan. 7 a vote on the sale of the garage. Staff members said they needed extra time because they had neglected to place proper legal notice of the sale on the building.